2006 Minnesota Statutes

216B.029 STANDARDS FOR DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES.
    Subdivision 1. Standards. (a) The commission and each cooperative electric association and
municipal utility shall adopt standards for safety, reliability, and service quality for distribution
utilities. Standards for cooperative electric associations and municipal utilities should be as
consistent as possible with the commission standards.
(b) Reliability standards must be based on the system average interruption frequency index,
system average interruption duration index, and customer average interruption duration index
measurement indices. Service quality standards must specify, if technically and administratively
feasible:
(1) average call center response time;
(2) customer disconnection rate;
(3) meter-reading frequency;
(4) complaint resolution response time;
(5) service extension request response time;
(6) recording of service and circuit interrupter data;
(7) summary reporting;
(8) historical reliability performance reporting;
(9) notices of interruptions of bulk power supply facilities and other interruptions of power;
and
(10) customer complaints.
(c) Minimum performance standards developed under this section must treat similarly
situated distribution systems similarly and recognize differing characteristics of system design
and hardware.
(d) Electric distribution utilities shall comply with all applicable governmental and industry
standards required for the safety, design, construction, and operation of electric distribution
facilities, including section 326.243.
    Subd. 2. Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the terms defined in this subdivision
have the meanings given them.
(a) The "system average interruption frequency index" is the average number of interruptions
per customer per year. It is determined by dividing the total annual number of customer
interruptions by the average number of customers served during the year.
(b) The "system average interruption duration index" is the average customer-minutes of
interruption per customer. It is determined by dividing the annual sum of customer-minutes of
interruption by the average number of customers served during the year.
(c) The "customer average interruption duration index" is the average customer-minutes of
interruption per customer interruption. It approximates the average length of time required to
complete service restoration. It is determined by dividing the annual sum of all customer-minutes
of interruption durations by the annual number of customer interruptions.
History: 2001 c 212 art 6 s 1